Harms In Keeping Animals for Human Food Consumption - Term Paper Example

Harms in keeping Animals for Human Food Consumption al Affiliation Why keeping Animals for Human Food Consumption is wrong Debate rages as to whether humans should continue consuming animals and animal products. The consumption of animals and their products has both benefits and disadvantages that humans must cope with (Baur, 2008). Humans have consumed animals since time immemorial as a natural source of proteins. However, vegetarians, animal rights advocates, and some health scientists have been at the forefront of running campaigns against the consumption of animals and their products. They attribute the emergence and reemergence of some diseases to the consumption of animals and animal products. Proponents of animal consumption term the practice as age-old and that humans are naturally omnivorous. Objectivity and evidence ought to prevail in determining whether humankind should carry on with the practice of animal consumption (Dawkins, Bonney, & Singer, 2011). Although keeping of animals for food has its demerits and skepticisms, assessing the merits of the age-old practice, its perspectives, and why it should stay suggests the many benefits of keeping animals for human food consumption. Perspective 1: Cons of Keeping Animals for Food Humans should stop the habit of keeping animals for consumption because of the many diseases that contemporary animals carry. Unlike the ancient days when meat was considerably clean, modern animal rearing methods have rendered modern animals to be hosts of uncountable illnesses. For instance, some scientists attribute the influx of lifestyle diseases to the rampant consumption of red meat like beef, mutton, and pork all over the world. Most animals today receive immunizations and feed in the form of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) (Wu et al., 2016). Some of such GMOs are injurious to human health if humans consume such animals. Modern animal rearing techniques involve the injection of animals and their offspring with substances that accelerate their growth. The substances can cause mutation or malignant growth to human beings when introduced to the human body. It means that the consumption of animals and their products should stop, especially in the present world (Baur, 2008). For many years, human beings have kept their pets for various reasons except for consumption, and the eating of pets is a violation of fundamental animal rights. Pets such as dogs, cats, parrots, and monkeys relate well with human beings because of the bonds that they build with humans over time. Subsequently, the keeping of such pets for human food consumption will amount to the violation of animal rights. Pets are man’s best friends, and the killing of such pets does not only betray the loyalty of humans, but it is also a manifestation of cruelty against animals. Unlike other animals in the wild, pets are friendly to humans because they help people to undertake certain tasks. In return, people are supposed to care for such pets by feeding them sufficiently and protecting them from all forms of danger, including killing (Newmyer, 2013). Contrary to common belief that animals provide better proteins that plants, humans should understand that plants produce equally invigorating and nourishing proteins. Humans should not kill animals for any reason at all because they can get the proteins that they need from plants. Subsequently, the practice of animal rearing for human food consumption should be abolished. It ought to be so because the practice is both unreasonable and costly. Considering the cost of rearing cattle, pigs, sheep, rabbits, and goats, it is only logical to transfer such effort to crop growing. Plants and crops such as nuts, fruits, vegetables, and cereals provide an even amount of nutrition, if not better, to animal nutrients. Besides, vegetarians get the protein first hand from plants, unlike the meat eaters who are second in the food chain. Research shows that food is at its best when it is closest to its natural state and plants represent such natural state (Bortey-Sam et al., 2015). Every year, millions of animals undergo painful deaths so that they can end up on the tables of human beings. Humans disregard compassion when it comes to reared animals because humans kill such animals mercilessly and on a large-scale. Most hotels, restaurants, and homes depend heavily on animals and animal products. This demand and inspired the rearing and massacre of all sorts of animals all over the world (Hile, 2004). People do not care anymore about the plight of animals as long such animals can end up on the dinner tables. Although no law exists to stop such behavior, the practice would amount to war crimes or genocide against certain animal species. It would be so considering that humans continue to rear and kill even the endangered species such as alligators, tigers, and anacondas for the sole purpose of food. Many alternatives exist to the keeping of animals for food because technology has enabled efficient and effective crop farming. Irrespective of what the proponents of the keeping of animals for food think, it is high time for the human race to rethink such an inhumane and animalistic behavior (Newmyer, 2013). For the people who care about the environment, the keeping of animals for food is hazardous to the environment. It is so because as the demand for meat and other animal products rises, people tend to keep more of the animals, which strains the environment. The same environmental space can be more productive if humans embrace crop farming as a means of ensuring food sustainability. The over-production of animal and animal products often leads to starvation, especially by the communities residing in arid and semi-arid areas. Climate change and global warming are major global concerns that the world can curb only by limiting accelerated animal rearing for food. People tend to care more for profits and food than for the environment, which will last for generations. With crop farming, future generations are safe because the environment will remain sustainable. Consequently, humans should stop keeping animals solely for food because the practice has many disadvantages (Baur, 2008). Perspective 2: Pros of Keeping Animals for Food While a vast majority of the vegetarians and animal activities are of the opinion that animal rearing for food is bad, some schools of thought differ. Deckers (2010) states that the keeping of animals for food is an age-old practice that humans have passed on from generation to generation. The practice will continue because past life of humans does not show any evidence of misfortune that befell any of the people who consumed animals and animal products. It is virtually impossible to discard a culture that has been existent for many years for the reason that the world is changing. Historical literature and evidence indicate that human beings have kept animals such as pigs, cattle, goats, rabbits, sheep, and poultry for ages. The primary reason people keep such animals is food and others are secondary purposes. The practice is likely to continue for many years because animals consist of a significant portion of human food all over the world (National Research Council, 2015).  Although some vegetarians argue that plant proteins are better than animal proteins, studies carried out by National Research Council (2015) indicate that correct amounts of animal proteins provide good nourishments. Such animals as rabbits, pigs, sheep, and hens provide the essential amino acids that humans require for survival. For instance, rabbit meat has the highest the protein constituents when compared to other animal and plant proteins. Besides, the kind of protein that animals provide is different from the ones that people derive from plants. In this regard, it is advisable to balance between the two types of protein without compromising one of them. It implies that under no circumstances should anyone dispute the keeping of animals for human food consumption. In essence, humans should keep more of the animals to ensure food sustainability by exporting animals and animal products to the high demand areas. Without animal proteins, some people in the world would die of starvation because most crops require sufficient amounts of nourishment in terms of moisture and sunlight to thrive. On the other hand, some animals such as caramel and reindeers can survive harsh climatic conditions and provide humans with food. It is virtually impossible to grow food in some desert and snowy regions of the world. The only option left is to rear animals that can survive. It would be foolhardy for anyone to think that the global population can survive on crop foods alone. Consequently, it would be a disaster in waiting because some communities would consume animals and animal products as their staple, particularly in the arid and semi-arid regions of Africa (Ricke, & Jones, 2010). No one can dispute the fact that human beings are inherently omnivorous and that they heavily depend on animals for food. Right from the dental formula to the digestion system, people were meant to consume both animals and plants. Humans can easily tear, bite, and chew meat from animals. Animal rearing only acts as an efficient method of ensuring the availability of animals and animal products for food. Most animals serve little purpose other than food, especially in the modern era where humans can use technology in most of their undertakings. Consequently, animals should be kept for human food consumption, especially to ensure that humans consume a balanced diet. Contrary to claims by some vegetarians that plants can provide a balanced diet, some studies have indicated that people who consumed both plant and animal proteins were healthier than their vegetarian counterparts were. In this regard, the omnivorous natures of humans require them to keep animals for food and create harmony in the environment (Belaunzaran et al., 2015). When people keep animals for food consumption, they create balance within the environment. The ecosystem needs to be balanced at all times through a cycle of the rearing and consumption of animals. Humans need to do their part by keeping animals for food just as the Lions help maintain the ecosystem of the Wild in check. Domestic animals such as cattle, poultry, and pigs play a primary role in the nourishment of the environment through their waste in terms of their droppings and carcasses (Cederberg et al., 2013). When humans keep such animals for food, they help sustain the ecological cycle, which in turn ensures environmental sustainability. If humans were to maintain the animals for other purposes other than for consumption, the number of such animals would skyrocket. The animals would consume more from the environment than they can provide, leading to environmental and ecological unsustainability (Deckers, 2010). It is wrong to compare animals with human beings, particularly when it comes to the keeping of animals for food. Unlike people who have compassion towards one another, animals depend solely on instinct even though they also feel pain. The pain of an animal cannot be compared to the pain of a human being. In addition, vegetarians and animal rights activists should, under no circumstances, term the killing animals for food as inhumane. Animals do not undergo torture in the butcheries, but rather they die fast because of the technological means of their execution (Ricke, & Jones, 2010). In considering both perspectives on animal rearing for food, animals should be kept for food consumption, particularly because of the benefits of such a practice. Although some skepticism regarding the keeping and consumption of animals, animals provide better protein, than plants, and they can service in harsh environments. Besides, humans are omnivorous in nature, implying that they can eat plant and animal products alike without developing any complications (Ricke, & Jones, 2010). However, humans need to balance between the rearing and consumption of animals and animal products to mitigate the demerits of keeping animals for human food production. If everyone were to go the vegetarian way, the environment would suffer an imbalance and strain because of the limited nature of the arable land. Consequently, people should keep animals to supplement their diet and live healthy and moderate lives (Deckers, 2010). References Baur, G. (2008). Farm sanctuary: Changing hearts and minds about animals and food. New York: Simon and Schuster. Belaunzaran, X., Bessa, R. J., Lavín, P., Mantecón, A. R., Kramer, J. K., & Aldai, N. (2015). Review: Horse-meat for human consumption - Current research and future opportunities. Meat Science, 108, 74-81. doi:10.1016/j.meatsci.2015.05.006 Bortey-Sam, N., Nakayama, S. M., Ikenaka, Y., Akoto, O., Baidoo, E., Yohannes, Y. B., & ... Ishizuka, M. (2015). 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